Most Curious Creatures - SJO Dominion of the Tholatin Hex

[Kat Decoria]

Objective: Survive some insane space jump with only a stealth cloak...
Location: I dunno! Bit focused on space jumping
Allies: [member="Valkren Calderon"] | [member="Tanaski Yumi"] | [member="Varindar Asyt"]

Kat held a grin as the commander of the Rangers joined in on her idea of some friendly team rivalry. However, when aboard the shuttle, there was mention of jumping from the shuttle, through empty vacuum lf space to the pirate ship. Jumping. Through. Space. All she had was a stealth cloak. No one warned her about space jumping. Kat was red with frustration, this was suicide. She stood up and was ready to protest when Valkren just leaped out of the shuttle. Karking sithspawn! They were jumping through space. SPACE! She didn't have airtight armour! This was space! Where no one can hear you scream!

Growling darkly how she was gunna demand better briefings in her debriefing and the first thing mentioned at any meeting being whether or not they jump through space to a ship. Cause people need to be more clear bout those things. Grabbing another Ranger, she "borrowed" their airtight armour and looked out of the shuttle. This was not an easy thing. This was jumping, wildly into space. There had to be better ways to board than this. Another thing to mention during debriefing, stylish entries were moot. Closing her eyes and sighing her fate, Kat leaped out kf the shuttle.

Floating in space was quite pleasant, it was relaxing being weightless. Using the thrusters on the suit, she darted towards the ship before landing slightly unsteadily. The armour was not something she was use to, preferring clothing and light armour over bulky heavy armour. "Next time, we ensure everyone has airtight space suits before doing the dangerous space jumping, huh boss?" She stated in a cold sarcastic tone to Valkren. Not amused by the space jump. SPACE JUMP!

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Location: Silver Rest hangars
Objective: Hostage rescue
Allies: [member="Valkren Calderon"] [member="Kat Decoria"] [member="Tanaski Yumi"]
Enemies: Pirates
Gear: Mk8 Katarn armor, Chalacta sniper rifle, Phantom kit

Unlike her former cooking student, on the other hand, since the Mk8 Katarn armor was, in fact, airtight, Varindar could make her jump towards the landing strut while making sure that her two big pieces of equipment that had to be tied to her armor, actually were. She showed confidence that she would be able to get to the landing strut in question, with jetpack or with telekinesis, activating the phantom kit as she was closing in on the landing strut. Hopefully she would actually get to be in the life support department to put the coma gas as she did on Chalacta to fumigate the spaceport-held slaves to sleep. Here getting the hostages safe and sound was the key for success, and she knew it. Looks like Valkren should get to eat at the restaurant at some point, probably with the other two, and the other two actually were guests of the hotel's restaurant; that's where I met the two Jedi in my group, she thought, while rendezvousing with the others in her group, in the innards of the ship, hopefully with a clear idea of where to go to get to the life support and/or engineering.

 

[Ugohr Poof]

Objective: BYOO (food truck)
Location: Tholatin refugee camp

The basket of fries was being fried at speed, while the other customer in the next line ordered, well, more fries, too. For this reason, he was happy with the customers wanting the junk food; pho as much more time-consuming to serve and prepare. Plus the Gungan was, in fact, losing track of the other stuff he had to fry, such as the breaded fish, which was ordered by the Gungan that was going in after the guy that ordered the basket of fries. Plus, between Gungans, he knew that they ate a lot of fish; the Otoh Gunga joint, which served very few non-Gungans, sold mostly breaded fish. But when the basket of fries was ready, the Gungan realized that it was a maxibig basket being ordered; maxibig baskets were rarely ordered to be eaten alone unless the customer was Tro'zet-sized or larger. In fact, both customers had entire familites to feed with just their respective fries baskets. And it was a challenge to get an entire family to eat from one fast-food item; he realized as much, with the guy that ordered one maxibig serving of pho also wanting two sets of utensils on top of the customary one set given with every pho serving.

"Yoursa maxibig baskets of fries" he told both customers before getting to the one that ordered a basket of breaded fish. "Yoursa basket of breaded fish"

 

[Ugohr Poof]

Double post...

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Objective: Curious Creatures
Location: Esau’s Ridge
[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Gianna Aegis"] | [member="Mutaak"] | [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] | [member="Allyson Locke"] | [member="Iakchi"] | @Saka Amura

As they walked Inaya did steal a glance or two at the flame-haired woman that had emerged from Stardust Melody after them. Indeed she’d seen her on the ship when they took off, but the two hadn’t spoken yet. From what the girl could gather, she seemed familiar with Big Brother. Maybe she was a good friend, but only time would tell. For now, Inaya was rather focused on the creature by her feet.

The creature trilled at her sweetly, drawing out another cheerful giggle from Inaya.

Arriving at the Supervisor’s office, it seemed to be the only building shut up tight. While they were creatures milling about outside, there was a pair of watchful eyes peering out between the curtains.

The man stepped outside when the approaching Silver Jedi party arrived. He straightened his vest and gently nudged one of the small creatures away from the door with his foot. The creature, whimpered softly.

“Thank you for meeting me,” The supervisor said with a nod, “As you can see… we have an issue here. While these creatures seem docile, they have rather taken over the village. The townsfolk here have given up on most of their daily activities, and would rather spend time with these… things.” He sighed. “As you know, we had called in a team of Jedi investigators to help… but we’ve not heard back from them in days. It’s worrying. If you would be able to wrangle the creatures, that would be most helpful. We’ve some wooden crates ready,” He motioned to them. “Also, if you can unravel the mystery around their origin, please let me know.”

With that, the man shut himself back inside his office, eager to escape the many pairs of little creature eyes upon him.

[OOC: Feel free to try and capture some of the creatures! The villagers are pretty attached, so they may become aggressive. However, the blue creatures are still fairly friendly at the moment]

 

[Mutaak]

MOST CURIOUS CREATURES
ESAU'S RIDGE, THOLATIN

---

Allies: [member="Inaya"] | [member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Gianna Aegis"] | [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] | [member="Allyson Locke"] | [member="Iakchi"] | [member="Saka Amara"]


Waiting for the rest of his fellow Jedi, he observes the rocky terrain around him. The dirt below him leaves imprints as he takes a few steps forward, bestowing his sight upon the furry little creatures roaming the streets. A human woman is seen in the distance. Upon further inspection, the woman, interaction with one of these creatures, is emitting a peculiar aura. The Miralukan sensed it's abnormality as it felt altered and meddled with. The distinguished aura did not feel as if it were in its normal state. Provoking his concern, his facial expression begins to dawn a look of suspicion.

To the immediate vicinity of the woman is one of those blue creatures with its innocent demeanor. There was an apparent glow to the creature — as if he were looking at a Force user; the Force was radiating off of it. "They're Force-sensitive," Mutaak thought to himself, "This creature's the cause of the disturbance in this woman."

On the arrival of the party, the Supervisor took notice and stepped out of the office to speak with Inaya. He explains the nuisance of the creatures taking up most of the town and the amount of attention they've taken away from the townsfolk. Asking us to capture one of these creatures, Mutaak takes on a face of caution.

Mutaak steps forward towards Inaya, placing his hand on her shoulder with a stern look in his eye face. He slowly shakes his head, implying this is a bad idea.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Objective: Curious Creatures
Location: Esau’s Ridge

The young girl related to him her time so far on Kashyyyk as well as she could with her limited knowledge of Basic. He could tell that her accent was getting a little better – they just needed to work on her vocabulary and grammar. A small frown tugged at the corner of his mouth as she lamented on not having made any friends.

“We’re friends, Inaya,” Cassius tried to assure her. “And now that I’m back, you can come with me when I travel.” There would be some things she wouldn’t be able to come with him on, sure… but simple archaeological digs, small humanitarian missions, she could tag along. He stole a small glance to Gianna, who had joined them from the ship. Cassius was sure that the redhead wouldn’t have a problem with Inaya, as long as she didn’t interfere in training.

Cassius couldn’t shake the eerie feeling he had as he walked through the town with his group. While there were people here, it didn’t feel like they were actually present. All of them had the little animals in their arms, or were rolling around in the dirt with them. Much like the woman they had just passed, everyone had this vacant stare etched across their faces.

Inaya had seemed to attract the attention of one of the little blue creatures, and Gianna positively commented on their appearance. Cassius shot her yet another look, this one saying, Don’t encourage her. A small tinge of worry touched the young Jedi, as he didn’t want whatever was affecting the townspeople to affect Inaya, or any of them, really.

The supervisor stepped out to greet them and rambled off the town’s troubles in short order. Before Cassius could press him with more questions, however, he stepped back into his house. A loud clunk signified the large lock that was put in place to keep the creatures – and perhaps the rest of the townspeople – out. Cassius turned back around to face the town, putting his hands on his hips as a small frown formed on his mouth. They certainly had a situation on their hands.

He needed to find out where these creatures had come from. Looking down at the one still nipping at Inaya’s heels, Cassius kneeled down as he saw a small rock embedded in its sapphire fur. Picking it out, he held it between his thumb and forefinger as he focused, clearing his mind. Images started to come to him of the rock’s history. It had come from a ridge up north, where he saw a herd of the small creatures moving under the cover of darkness to a series of lights – Esau’s Ridge at the nighttime. The rock had been next to a cave, the mouth of which projected something sinister… ominous.

Suddenly the images stopped – without Cassius prompting it. Something Force sensitive didn’t want him to look further in. Concern now creeping in, Cassius stood back up to his full height, looking out across the town. He saw a few other Jedi from the Silver Order. Speaking up to address them and trying to project his voice so they could hear, he said,

“It looks like these creatures came from a ridge up north. I’ll be heading up there, if anyone wants to follow. Anyone that stays behind, I’d advise you try and catch these little guys and put them in those wooden crates.”

Cassius stepped off of the porch of the supervisor’s office and began to walk north, towards the edge of town. He kept a small, invisible barrier up so that the creatures couldn’t get any closer. Looking to his new mentor Gianna, Cassius asked, “What do you think?” He was trying to make more of a habit of asking her for advice. While they were generally the same age and Cassius had so far had his own fair share of adventures and experiences, Gianna was the better Jedi of the two of them.

[member="Inaya"] | [member="Gianna Aegis"] | [member="Mutaak"] | [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] | [member="Allyson Locke"] | [member="Iakchi"] | [member="Saka Amara"] | [member="Yuroic Xeraic"]

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Objective: Curious Creatures
Location: Esau’s Ridge
[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Gianna Aegis"] |[member="Mutaak"] | [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] | [member="Allyson Locke"] | [member="Iakchi"] | [member="Saka Amara"] | [member="Yuroic Xeraic"]

Inaya watched Cassius’ expression carefully, noting the way his mouth turned down into a frown after speaking with the supervisor. The girl jumped slightly upon feeling a hand mat her shoulder, and turned to see Mutaak – a man she didn’t know. The lines of his face were quite similar to that of Cassius; they all looked a bit stern.

Inching way from the unfamiliar man, she sought security close at the side of Cassius.

Her ‘little friend’ was there in tow, now winding its way in between and around Inaya’s ankles. Glancing down, she watched as the blue creature pawed and nipped affectionately at her. Reaching down, she gently touched the top of its head. The former slave girl’s eyes shifted as Cassius picked a bit of rubble from her creature friend’s fur, and she observed him in thought.

Perhaps it was speaking to him. Inaya knew that some objects did that, even if she didn’t understand why. Her Kiffar heritage lent well to psychometry. It was a skill that she’d had ever since she could remember; she knew that certain objects spoke of history, feelings, and even secrets.

“You come, too.” Inaya nudged the creature by her feet.

Glancing up at Cassius and Gianna, she gave a nod to signal that she would be ready to follow.

 

[Ugohr Poof]

Objective: BYOO (food truck)
Location: Tholatin refugee camp

"What unhealthy choices!" the next customer in line shouted at him.

"Yousa want some Gargonn coleslaw?"

"Yes, the maxibig one please"

Gargonn coleslaw was perhaps the only item on the menu, with the possible exception of pho, that might have redeemed an otherwise rather unhealthy menu (unless one was from a species whose dietary requirements focused a lot on trans fat) to the eyes of that customer. But what kind of species would be a vegan kind of customer? Even vegans would still be able to eat a maxibig basket of fries, provided they didn't mind trans fat. Yet, that Mirialan customer would probably want a maxibig Gargonn coleslaw as to give herself good conscience, just that he had to prepare the maxibig coleslaw for that picky Mirialan girl; it meant cutting the salad ingredients to near-Caesarean levels of thinness. (Gungan chefs tended to call Caesarean a cut of vegetables that was very thin, equivalent of what's called julienning on Barkhesh) And hopefully the Mirialan girl would eat the maxibig coleslaw without any dressing whatsoever, but she would be having bread crumbs along with the salad; it was just the reality of serving the coleslaw when all other ingredients were cut that thin.

"Yoursa colwslaw"

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Location: Lightfoot​

Objective: Objective 1, Tholatin​

Partners: [member="Allyson Locke"], HK-D9 (NPC, Owner: Josh), [member="Cassius Droma"]​

Post: 3​

The Padawan poisoning was a fault on the part of the girl's Master who had failed to notice the language barrier and act accordingly. Regardless, they had been asked to secure the floor and ensure that the escape route was sealed... And they'd done so. Certainly it could have gone better, but then again... None of them got into a bar fight before the signal went off and were nearly taken hostage, so he could take solace in that. Allyson's remarks though finally got something out of him. A small smile. Well, there was one stride toward balance.

"Fair" He responded with a shrug in turn. "I've just been thinking about the strength of a potential foe" The Jedi would explain. "Some missing townspeople, that could be anything, man or beast... A team of Jedi? It gives us a better picture of what we're potentially dealing with... But not a clear enough one. We just know they are likely very strong, very cunning, have high numbers, or a potential combination of all three. Not that I'm leaving out other possibilities I haven't thought up yet. Generally a key element to combat is to know your enemy... But we know nothing. I'm hoping that our interviews will give us a little more insight."

He stroked his beard a bit as he mulled it over. "I'd like to hope that our resolution won't require a violent solution. But after our Jedi party went missing, the chances of that being the case have become very slim. I'm just hoping that they're still alive."

Looking back toward her a moment, he smiled a bit wider when she briefed him on her fieldwork experience. "That's fair. Might be a bit weird to act as a group, but I think you'll do fine. Had me thinking for a bit, you were a bit rusty. I'd hate to see-" He began as he was cut off by him looking toward HK with a quirked brow. "You don't even have a mouth and I can feel you grinning at me."

"Coy retort: I have no clue what you could possibly be talking about, Master."

Josh shook his head as he addressed Allyson again.

"Just... Try to be careful if things go south, aye?"

"Translation: I consider you a treasured friend and companion and would weep horribly if your mortal life were to be expunged."

"Yeah. Something like that."

The droid had been picking things up from the astromech, clearly. See, this kind of thing was why droids had routine memory wipes. Either way, his attention would be caught when Allyson would bring up the appearance of Cassius. Nodding his head and following behind her, the two would arrive in time to hear the little speech of [member="Cassius Droma"]. It was there that he would have his attention caught to the little fuzzball creatures...

"... Wonder how much for one? Are they child-friendly?"

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Objective: Nightroad, lead 'Hammer' team into ship​

Location: Side of Pirate vessel​

Nearby: [member="Kat Decoria"] | [member="Tanaski Yumi"] | [member="Varindar Asyt"]​

__________________________________________________________​

His silence was interrupted again as both Lowder and Bowers reported in safe after making the landing a few meters from Valkren's position. His grip tightened on the side of the pirate vessel as he began to think about the emptiness between them and the transport they just left.

It took him a brief second to tell himself he was on stable ground before he could successfully look behind him to the rest of the team.

He had assumed Varindar would have no trouble in their transition from transport to objective, and it was clear after he saw her approach the group. It seemed as if Tanaski was enjoying the mission almost too much. The colonel turned just in time to catch him doing a flip before reaching his own destination. It was almost rejuvenating to see someone put a little fun in the mission.

Then, Decoria's attitude could be heard through their team's channel. Valkren kicked himself for this, he had assumed everyone that had volunteered for the mission at hand would in fact be ready and have the training for any kind of boarding procedure. He wasn't sure how much training mechanics got during their basic training before initial deployment with the rangers, obviously it was less than what Valkren had expected.

He had to remember not everyone was a member of his unit, not every soldier would be ready for at a moments call...Not everyone was a soldier even. Decoria was in the midst of transitioning from the rangers to the Jedi last Valkren heard, he'd have to cut some slack.

He'd bite his tongue when it came to having some kind of tone back at his previous subordinate, but it made no difference out here. In the field, everyone needed a level head.

Best he could do in this situation was compromise..Well, to Valkren it seemed like a compromise. Asyt's path to the shuttle seemed to be the most professional, and the safest.

"Decoria, follow after Varindar's trail. Lowder will wait behind to be sure you make it safely. If you're off-course, he'll grab you and bring you back via thrusters." Valkren glanced upward to Specialist Lowder's position on the side of the pirate vessel, the operator giving a silent thumbs up before activating his comms.

"Gotcha boss, I'll keep an eye out for ya' Kat." The specialist turned his body rather smoothly and caught himself so he was facing outward to the incoming mechanic.

"The rest of you, on me. Landing struts are just below our position."

With that, Valkren carefully turned his body, shifting his gaze 'downward' from his original position. He'd never get used to zero-gravity. Which way was up? It didn't even matter, as long as the time spent out here was short, he'd deal with the confusing perplexity of space. With a light tap of his thruster and a 'skillfully' placed hand in the right place on the side of the ship, he 'shot' himself gently along the side of the cold steel-like material, gloved hands tracing along it to keep his body steady.

Once close to the landing struts, he'd stop himself, turning to hammer team.

"Alright, we head into the maintenance airlock through the gaps in these struts. On the other side of the corridor opposite of the airlock is engineers and life-support. It's a straight shot directly there once inside that small-ass airlock. So, whose first?" He questioned, glancing about to the others as he 'floated' there.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Location: Landing struts
Objective: Hostage rescue
Allies: [member="Valkren Calderon"] [member="Kat Decoria"] [member="Tanaski Yumi"]
Enemies: Pirates
Gear: Mk8 Katarn armor, Chalacta sniper rifle, Phantom kit

"I'm going in first"

Sure, zero-g motion was different from motion in gravity, but she had some experience of orbital dogfighting so she wasn't a total stranger to this sort of envrionment, but the gaps through the landing struts proving a little troublesome, maybe a little tight for her commanding officer or the other two specialists on coma gas duty. Hopefully Kat getting lost is not attracting enough attention to compromise the operation. But it was a relief once into the airlock, and yet she feels it would be better not to stay too long in one place. I better hope the phantom kit won't fail on me this time around, she thought, while the phantom kit failing due to perhaps rapid motion or somesuch would compromise them. Yet time was limited for them, and the silver lining was that it was, in fact, a straight line to the engineering/life support departments. Best to advance as a group, but not attracting too much attention was different: it was best not to stray too far from the others, regardless of stage. So she stayed close to the airlock, once the team started entering the gap in the strut, with Kat being last.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

Objective: 2 Nighttroad
Equipment: Duel Vibro Wakizashi - Nexu Armour - Sabre
Peps: Valkren Calderon - [member="Kat Decoria"] - [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] - Varindar Asyt
Post: 4

Tana gave a quick salute to [member="Varindar Asyt"] as the groups parted ways upon the regroup, have the two older members go first,even if from his perspective the woman was not the most experienced in combat. Still not his choice, if [member="Valkren Calderon"] ordered it then so be, the ranger commander was one of, if not the most experienced person in this sorts of manners, team leading, hostage and military operations. Getting a grip on a small ledge Tana flung himself forward/back/up or down, following the ranger commander to the infiltration point, zero Gs was fun, if a little disorientating. "Maintenance shafts and other crawl spaces, what a time to be small and thin, is artificial grav on inside the ship? or have the pirates cut that out to make things difficult for us"? Made is easier to ambush in zero Gs and move around the hostages if needed, though if the pirates where not that type old fashion crawling would do just fine, either way Tana was good in this area.

 

[Kat Decoria]

Objective: Not beat up everyone who thought space jumping was a safe and sensible idea. Also, free slaves.
Location: Boarding pirate ship
Allies: [member="Valkren Calderon"] | [member="Varindar Asyt"] | [member="Tanaski Yumi"]

Valkren changed Kat's course mid-flight. So Kat kindly decided to send a torrent of curse words that make even the most masculine man feel like a child. Having to adjust course, mid-flight in space was highly dangerous, it was a struggle to determine the correct thrusting needed to move towards the new destination. Then there was a guy ready to babysit her. Kat growled darkly to herself, this was not going to go down well in her debriefing. There might be a fair amount of swearing and incohorent screaming at Valkren. This was beyond dangerous and with no mention of it in the briefing or before leaving the Silver space.

Adjusting herself towards the new location. She managed to make it to where Varindar was. Landing a little rough, she grumbled about wanting this mission to be over as she moved towards Varindar. "Right. Lets get this over with, sooner we free them. Sooner I can get back to sanity." Kat grumbled into her comms.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Objective: Curious Creatures
Location: Outside of cave near Esau's Ridge

It hadn’t taken long to get up to the ridge – Cassius wasn’t even feeling any sort of fatigue as the mouth of a cave came into sight. He slowed as the path evened out, and looked behind him to see if any of their group was lagging behind. The little creature that Inaya had grown fond of was still following them, right at their heels. T-4D4 was staying as far away from it as possible, keeping a close eye on it. It didn’t need to be Force sensitive to know that those things were up to no good.

A small rock falling clattering down from above caught Cassius’s attention. He looked up to see a flurry of blue from behind some boulders. More of the creatures. Just then, an uneasy feeling raced up his spine. He felt as if he were being watched by dozens of pairs of eyes. He paused in his walking and scanned the area, only seeing fleeting glances of the little blue things racing behind rocks.

“Your scanners picking up anything, Tee-Four?” Cassius asked.

“Lifeforms – a lot of them,” the tall droid responded. His metal hand gripped the A180 blaster that was magnetically holstered onto his thigh. “Surrounding us in three-hundred and sixty degrees.”

“Keep it on a swivel,” Cassius said, as he edged towards the cave. The mouth looked natural, and could easily be missed by passersby. It was what Cassius saw in his vision, though, so he knew it was the place to go. The ominous presence could be felt now, trying to fill them with an existential sense of dread, and a want to turn back around.

Cassius suddenly felt something sharp on his leg. Head snapping down, he saw the little creature that had been following Inaya suddenly biting into his boot, through the leather. “Hey, ow!” Cassius yelled, before kicking so hard that the little creature flung off. It landed on its feet like a lithe Loth-cat, and hissed at the group. The hissing sound grew, and Cassius realized that it was steadily growing from all around them.

The small, adorable creature in front of them began to grow in size in a rather grotesque way. Loud cracking sounds could be heard as bones snapped out and then back into place. Their claws became long and sharp, like deadly daggers, as did their lower canines. Horns protruded out from their heads, twisting and gnarling into blunt weapons. When they finally stopped growing, they would stand at roughly two meters tall while hunched over.

They all leapt at them at once, and Cassius moved in front of Inaya. He drew his lightsaber from his belt and the green blade sprang to life. The first one swiped at them, and Cassius meet its arm with his lightsaber, lopping the appendage off.


[SIZE=11pt][member="Inaya"] | [member="Gianna Aegis"] | @Anyone else who wanted to come along[/SIZE]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Objective 1
Esau Ridge -> Outskirts of Esau Ridge with Cassius

[SIZE=9pt]Allyson listened to Josh as he explained his thought process. She of course didn’t really understand his worry. She was recruited by one of the best Jedi in their order and she had worked close with them as an SIS agent for some time now. She blew up a station and boarded ships in small groups, she had survived a personal torture session with the Dark Lord himself, yet he worried about her. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]His worry reminded her fondly of another in her life. A man she had not heard from in some time and she wondered if he survived the ordeal that had fallen upon Coruscant. Even as her mind wandered to Asmus, her mind found its way to Kaili. A heavy sigh as she knew the girl was alright – time still hurt, but now they were happier apart. Rolling her shoulders back, she shook her head towards the Jedi. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]“I’m not a china doll you need to warn and protect. I can hold my own.” A hand ran through her brunette locks as she twisted it up into a tight ponytail, “I’ve been though enough, survived enough to know my limits and how to break them. Don’t worry about me, just keep your pretty face out of trouble.” A smirk and she entered the office of the man they were to meet. His words were brief and seemed very wary. Maybe he thought the Jedi were lost as well, Allyson knew better than to hope at this point. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]There was no time for questions and she found Josh back with the creatures that the man seemed so afraid of. The Jedi asked if they were child friendly and Allyson shook her head and patted his arm. “If these things make that dude scared, they’re probably the cause for all this weird stuff and the missing jedi.” Pressing her lips together remembering seeing and hearing about Josh’s son, “I think Jason can survive without meeting one of these things. He should get a nice droid as a pet. I know someone who makes some cute customized stuff. I’ll get her number for you.” Nodding, Allyson caught wind of [member="Cassius Droma"] leaving the area and followed. She made sure Josh was behind her, hopefully with out a puffball. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Arriving, Allyson spotted the creature that had grown to massive size. Pulling a blaster she looked back at Josh. “You still think they’re kid friendly?” Groaning, the Corellian made her way towards the flank of the beast and opened fire upon its side and rear leg, hopefully crippling it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt][member="Josh DragonsFlame"] [/SIZE]
[member="Inaya"]
[member="Gianna Aegis"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Location: Lightfoot​

Objective: Objective 1, Tholatin​

Partners: [member="Allyson Locke"], HK-D9 (NPC, Owner: Josh), [member="Cassius Droma"]​

Post: 4​

Perhaps his worries were a little unfounded. Then again, she had implied before that she hadn't done field work in a bit, and confirmed she especially hadn't for group work in some time. Josh understood what rust could do in any situation, and wanted to be sure that Allyson was being cautious in the coming mission. Could he be a bit overprotective? Certainly. But better to be overprotective than for someone to be dead. They were not Sith Alchemists, they didn't have a million clone bodies lying around to transfer their essence into (He didn't. He wasn't sure about Allyson) or other methods that ensured that nothing short of killing them and transferring their essence into a black hole would be rid of them for good. They had, as far as he knew, none of that. They were mortal. Which meant precaution was to him a necessary evil.

Still, he nodded his head as she gave her bit on not needing to worry, smirking a bit at some of her comments. "Of course" He responded. "Forgive me for being overbearing. It'd be boring around here if you died though" He joked.

He had zoned out a bit during Cassius' spiel and hadn't caught the part about him being afraid of the little puffballs. He frowned when Allyson would remark that they were likely the cause of the disappearances. If so, that was... Quick. He hadn't thought of the cause being so close to home. He figured it'd be a little while, and some investigating before they found something. Still, he was disappointed that they were likely not child friendly. They were really cute. And Josh had a soft spot for adorable critters. He would walk beside Allyson and HK, staving temptation to take one of the little furballs following them and stuffing them in his robes to take home and surprise Jason with. They had Jongori (He was pretty sure) and Porgbert anyway. Too many mouths to feed and that'd dip into their savings a bit more than he'd like, he supposed.

The almost-new mouth to feed would suddenly become a lot bigger though, and Josh would wince a bit when he heard the bones cracking. Allyson's quip caused him to shake his head. "Shame. But for the best, I guess. Can't be grabbing every possible pet that comes our way. Especially if it might try to eat us. I'll take that number though."

As the remainder would grow and begin attacking, Josh would note the amount of people around them and make a decision. "HK, back them up" He ordered the droid as he would back away a bit and sit cross-legged, taking a deep breath as he would begin to meditate... Encouraging voices and rousing feelings would take hold in the heads of their allies, as Battle Meditation would take it's effects.

"As you wish, Master. Engaging combat mode" HK would answer as the droid would draw a two-handed shotgun type blaster, quickly crouching and going for a shot at the legs of one of the creatures to try and crumple them from underneath.

Those under the effects of Battle Meditation: [member="Allyson Locke"] - [member="Cassius Droma"] - [member="Inaya"] - [member="Gianna Aegis"]

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Objective: Curious Creatures
Location: Outside of cave near Esau's Ridge
[member="Cassius Droma"], [member="Gianna Aegis"], [member="Allyson Locke"], [member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

The trek to the ridge wasn’t terribly difficult, but Inaya’s legs were far shorter than anyone else’s. However, she had the boundless energy of youth on her side. She’d navigated the rocky terrain with a grin, happy to be on a real adventure with Cassius and Friend-Droid. And, there was also the added excitement of her creature companion. She liked the way it followed after, but she did have to step carefully to avoid treading on it.

As they neared a cave, motion caught her eye – a rock tumbling down.

Blinking, she could scarcely make out more of the signature blue fur of the creatures. This must be their home. Inaya glanced down at her little friend, the creature’s demeanor had not changed much, and it seemed quite comfortable. But Cassius’ posture had changed, he was wary now. Inaya could almost feel the change in the air around them.

Letting her focus drift back to their surroundings, she stood on tip-toe to try and get a look good. But her attention was yanked back when she heard Cassius shout. Jumping, Inaya looked to find her creature companion with its jaws around Cassius’ boot.

“Oh, no, no!” Inaya gasped and cried out.

As the creature was flung free of the Jedi’s boot, Inaya stuck close, eyes wide. There was hissing all around them now, and her mouth fell open when the creature shifted before their eyes – becoming a terrible beast. Along with fear, was a painful pang of sadness in her heart, she’d been betrayed.

Inaya watched as Cassius moved in front of her, memories of Circumtore came flooding back. He was her protector, her savior. There was safety in the humming of his green lightsaber. Turning her head slightly, she spotted the others here, too. Swallowing hard, she wondered what would happen next. Crouching down for a moment, she picked up a fist-sized rock… just in case.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Objective: Nightroad, lead 'Hammer' team into ship​

Location: Side of Pirate vessel​

Nearby: [member="Kat Decoria"] | [member="Tanaski Yumi"] | [member="Varindar Asyt"]​

__________________________________________________________​

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Calderon continued his descent towards the landing struts, gripping tightly onto the side of the ship to keep him in place and let Varindar enter first. Tanaski's voice came through their communication channel, inquiring about the gravity situation within.

"I'm assuming artificial gravity is still a thing in there. Guess we'll find out soon enough."

Varindar's entrance into the crawl space and then through the maintenance airlock gave them enough proof that the gravity was there. One by one the team would enter, filing into the area until they could no longer see the darkness of space behind them. Valkren glanced beyond the extra door separating themselves from the corridors leading to engineering. He slipped his head away from the observation port as two armed guards wandered by. They seemed to be too busy chatting with one another to spot the strike team, probably about the Silver Spacy forces that were keeping them from going anywhere.

The two armed men went off to the left, out of his field of vision. Now that they were out of the way, it was easy to see the straight shot to engineering and life support. The door to the room slid open as a rugged looking Duros stepped through, most likely a mechanic as he seemed to only be armed with a blaster pistol on his side. During the brief moment that the door remained open, he could make out two other mechanic types within the area fiddling on something.

He turned his gaze back to his team, looking to each from behind his visor while he spoke. His voice hushed, even though the idea of anyone hearing them through the thick door that led into the belly of the ship was insane, it was more of the idea of the mission at hand that made him speak almost softer into their comms.

"Two bad guys to our left went outa' sight, looks like three inside engineering. I'll move to the left to be sure those two aren't a threat. The rest of you move to engineering, you can decide how you want to take them down. Bowers and Lowder will follow in after it's clear and continue on mission with the coma gas."

He'd reach down to the mini-computer on his wrist plate, tapping a few commands to initiate the phantom kit. He'd look back up at hammer team just as the outerlayer of his plates began to shift color, helping him to blend in with the surroundings and essentially disappear before their eyes. Lucky for them, their HUD's would show exactly where each of their team members were to reduce mishaps.

"Solid copy?"

 

[Gianna Aegis]

Location: Esau’s Ridge
Tags: [member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Mutaak"] | [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] | [member="Allyson Locke"] | [member="Inaya"] | [member="Saka Amara"]
Objective: Curious Creatures

Gia could only smile at Cassius when he shot her a dirty look. Her friend was cute when he got grouchy. The creature was following Inaya like a lost little Yoshie and there wasn’t much to be done about it now. As always, the pale woman listened, when within SJO territory versus acting immediately. There was always some sort of twist to her adventures with this group. A supervisor greeted them, most unnerved, and the flame-haired woman merely squinted at the notion of almost abandoning the will to live for the love of a little animal.

They left the building shortly after and Cassius asked what she thought of the situation. Unfortunately, her silence would tell them more than words. What did she think? Nothing good.

For the woman that always had a smile for everyone, and was sweeter than a bowl full of candy, it was truly telling when she seemed bothered. Her Padawan would notice that when she grew contemplative and quiet that there was something on the horizon she wasn’t looking forward to meeting. “We should report in. Log our location, findings, and movements so that if something goes awry those that follow will have a frame of reference.”

The supervisor had already mentioned that they were the second Jedi group to pass through. The second. Either way, they still had to go to the origin point to fully investigate. The best place to start with a problem, large or small, was often at the beginning. Hearing a new voice and a man that looked suspiciously like [member="Aryn Teth"], the redhead paused and blinked. If she didn’t know the Eriadu man quite well she could have easily pegged this man as his doppelganger. [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] asked if the creatures were child-friendly, and she wasn’t sure Cassius heard, so she answered for him with a tight half-smile. “Sadly…I do not think so.”

There had been murmurs of the creatures being force sensitive and she hadn’t missed the small experience Cassius had endured with his psychometry. There was something off here and almost everyone seemed to notice it, right off the bat, and it all linked back to the little fuzz balls that were rolling around. At the mouth of the cave, Gianna did not need T-4D4 to tell her that they were surrounded. She could feel it. Life, in its many forms, left an imprint that was incredibly difficult to ignore.

“Cassius—“, she began, only to be cut off by his yelp, and her bottle-green eyes focused as the creature he had kicked away began to shift. From cute to monstrous in a moments time.

[member="Allyson Locke"] and [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] began to react almost instantly. They moved together to try and deal with the largest of the beasts and, the one that bit Cassius, so Gianna turned her focus on the new creatures that started rolling in. The seemed as if they desperately didn’t want them getting into the cave in one piece. A droid began to beat them back and she felt a sudden surge of strength from somewhere behind her. Focus. The fear that she hadn’t known she’d held had ebbed. “Thank you.”, she had the presence of mind to say, while she watched the WILL to fight lessen among the creatures, despite their general ferocity.

It was strange. They moved as one without any real evidence of communication. Gianna had always been able to connect mentally with animals. It had never been difficult. Her mind was a safe place, warm, and inviting. Animals didn’t know to resist if they didn’t feel threatened. If they didn’t feel her fear. She didn’t expect to fail. The crimson-haired woman reached out mentally to the closest creature and just as she breached the surface of what made it everything it was she suddenly felt swallowed. It was not one mind she had stumbled into. It was all of them. They were all linked. Controlled.

Deep in the cave system, she saw the origin. Gianna wasn’t so certain that it didn’t see her. The woman gasped as she took a step back, before coughing hard, as if her lungs had been filled with water. All of those instincts, unified, and precise had made her feel as if she was drowning. “We have to go deeper in the cave!”

She held her hand out, with the help of Battle Meditation, and threw out a kinetic pulse that buffed most of the smaller creatures away from their position. Breathing sharply, as if it hurt, she could imagine the enemy within screaming as one of its children were injured by their attacks. Thousands of little teeth. Little claws. Little eyes blinking menacingly in the dark. Until, they were not so little. “They have a hive mind. Something in the cave is controlling them. It won’t matter how many we deal with, unless we can stop them all, before they tear us apart.”

Her heart ached. Bled. She did not relish the thought of taking life and it pained her beyond measure.

Again, she threw another attack outward, trusting those behind her to deal with the immediate threat. She would do her best to keep the creatures from closing in while they moved deeper into the caves. Part of her was tempted to try and seal it, however, they could just as easily wind up trapped. They had no maps. No way of knowing if it would cut off their air supply. “As soon as there is an opening—run. Go toward the darkness. Not away.”

​

Spoiler

[OOC: Knowledge about creatures and directions given by Cassius.]